EDIT: For anyone just reading this for the first time, you may want to go to the most recent posts to get a hold of what is going on. I still do over-the-internet computer repair/tuning, but this thread is mostly about my application that was (initially) designed to do the job for me, automatically. It has since turned into a full blown, all-in-one application for lots of daily computing needs.

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to announce that for the first time ever I am offering to help the general public over the internet with computer woes. Now I do know that most people on this forum are FAR ahead of me in the computer world. Most likely, many people won't take this offer. But I would like to offer to DC's new computer users or people that don't have the time, patience or desire to work on their computer, a chance to have someone do it for them (with user input, of course, but you don't work, just input what you want done and watch ). Now I am not going to say I am going to be able to fix that 500 trojan, 6 pounds of spyware ridden hard drive that your mom/wife/kids installed, but I will try (and may succeed). I doubt that many people will trust a 14 year old with their computer over the internet, and that is fine, I have no problem with that (I know enough people who don't trust me with their PCs, but I know enough who do, so it balances well). I am not going to hack you or anything (I started a thread a while back on DC for a "super security program", and I have no desire to take any info/data or harm anything on anyone's PC). I can tune up your computer, clean it up, fix it, stop crashes, customize it for you, setup your wireless network (from start to finish), secure it, and more over the internet. For free! (A few credits wouldn't hurt, as I am looking at rebuilding my 5+ year old PC, but getting money is NOT the aim of this topic!) I use only freeware programs that I have tested, and I learn from trial and error on my personal computers, and will try NOTHING new on someone else's. I will work on Windows 95/98/98SE/2K/ME/XP/Vista and am fluent in them all. I have more experience then the Geek Squad (at least at all the Best Buy's I have visited) at fixing things, for reasons such as I don't reformat a hard drive for a video driver problem (and yes, it did happen ).

So please, give me a chance. It doesn't cost anything, and you watch the whole process on your monitor so you can direct what you want done. I have fixed computers for over 5+ years now in my house SOLO (I know the most in the family) so I am not saying things I cannot backup.-Brandon Seal

Great! I'm all for this! Except that I don't have the time right now.Some preliminary questions:1. Is it windows only or linux as well?2. Will you be using one of the VNC variants from sourceforge or a Microsoft VNC product?3. If I want my commercial business PC repaired online will that too be free? And no, I'm not going to ask for help in ensuring that I get a permanent crack for an illegit Windows XP install (for the record, my one and only windows PC is my business PC and its the electronic license backed up by a M$ CD $20 shipping extra - the other one is a P1 166 Mhz snail and has ...guess what ..... FreeDOS + GEM !!)

And as far credibility goes, it says that you should be "thirteen years of age or above " - and, you have *five* years of hands-on fighting - that should jolly well suffice

1: I am currently only working remotely on Windows machines (sorry Linux users, I am not comfortable with Linux that much yet and do not want to harm your PC- better safe than sorry ).

2: I use CrossLoop, a new free remote assistance program that encrypts all communication with 128 bit encryption. It is not hosted by SF but does use VNC.

3: I will work on any machine that is accessible via internet as long as it is permitted/you are the owner of it (ex: I will work on a PC from your workplace if you have confirmation that you may do so).

Even if you are AFK...I am always willing to work on your PC if you are out running errands or something, I am not going to harm your computer (you could tell me your going to Wal-Mart and I would be glad to fix it up, and if you just wanted to make sure you could trust me you could say that your going out but your really just going to sit behind the computer and not do anything but watch).

My first question, though, may be to anyone: Do you know if any of these programs may cause troble:

SnapSuite program family/Free online computer help ??

From day one I have had small but growing troubles with my new PC with XP_Home, OEM (no installation CD), Danish. I reinstalled the OS but the problems went on, and day by day even grew, as I installed more and more programs. So I was thinking it could be some hardware error, and ran an EVEREST Ultimate benchmark; but the test claimed the PC is okay. Yesterday I had the brilliant idea to exclude most programs from Start, and suddenly almost everything improved! Almost everything, but not everything, so I guess the roots of my problems with this PC could be a combination of multiple smaller problems.

One thing is that I now have to check all these programs one by one - and that may take 'forever' with at least half a hundred restarts - another thing is that I have very little idea about what the real problem is! "Explorer taking forever to open" may not be an error, but could be due to lack of memory, some may say. But the problems were present before I installed all these programs, only on a much smaller scale.

So to start somewhere, I am asking you to click the picture and study the programs and tell if you think any of these programs may be expected to be causing troubles?

I should tell that "IMJPMIG.EXE" is MS-IME_2002 version 8.1.4202.0 by Microsoft - a dictionary tool.

Or maybe once again I am asking the wrong question? You tell me - please!

Curt...No, Outlook is SUPPOSED to start in C:\ (or system directory drive) Program Files\Outlook Express\outlook.exeAre you using LaunchBar Commander/RocketDock/ObjectDock?Reset the path and try again.I am also scanning your list of programs now and I see a couple I haven't heard of so I will check on those.

---EDIT---AH HAH! ROCKETDOCK! Check the start options on that and it should fix it!

As far as the growing system problems...So far the only conflict I am seeing is the 2 time programs...nothing really "bad" at all...

If may be because you don't use any 3rd party programs to keep your system in good shape (Microsoft's built-in programs are NOT enough to take care of any machine!). If so, I can fix it up, but just try to disable ALL startup programs other then 100% required and see how it goes. If there isn't much of a change, I will be happy to take a look. -Brandon

- but I have grown so custom to / fun of all these nice little features! I truly believe that I NEED to have every one of these programs in Start

Well, calm down, Curt; easy now! ..... I did disable even more programs from Start, and Outlook is again starting as it is supposed to. I have not yet pinpointed which sinner caused the malfunction, but I will. Also Word is again working properly; I have been missing this fine program.

But still it takes me 8-12 seconds to open any folder in Explorer, so SOMETHING must be wrong!?? Could it be something entirely different? Like, say, Settings: handle Explorer and Programs as two threads, not as one thread (or how the English wording may be)?

- but I have grown so custom to / fun of all these nice little features! I truly believe that I NEED to have every one of these programs in Start

Well, calm down, Curt; easy now! ..... I did disable even more programs from Start, and Outlook is again starting as it is supposed to. I have not yet pinpointed which sinner caused the malfunction, but I will. Also Word is again working properly; I have been missing this fine program.

But still it takes me 8-12 seconds to open any folder in Explorer, so SOMETHING must be wrong!?? Could it be something entirely different? Like, say, Settings: handle Explorer and Programs as two threads, not as one thread (or how the English wording may be)?

Well...you may have explorer open in a new process every time, and that takes longer to do (more stable, but slower).Also some settings may just be set incorrectly for speed...what kind of computer do you have?CPU:RAM:GPU:and how old is it? (mine is 5+ years old...my bio tells about everything I have in it).

Also, you still use MS Word? Wow...IMHO, I believe the OpenOffice.org suite does a better job then MS Office, and its free! The whole download is only around 90MB too, so smaller also.http://www.openoffice.org/-Brandon

Also, you still use MS Word? Wow...IMHO, I believe the OpenOffice.org suite does a better job than MS Office,

Hmmm... suddenly I'm not too confident about your skills!

---

I have only now finished a long and tiresome test of almost every starting program, and found that a major part of the problem probably was due to Vicman Photo Toolkit (I&F Viewer toolbar) being placed in Start. It shouldn't, it seems, as it is part of the Explorer shell (?).

Honestly: OpenOffice?!! Are you comparing to Office97 or what? Anyway; they gave up on OpenOffice in Danish, but language is not without importance to me.

My PC was put together by various pieces. The 160 GB drive is stamped December 2001, but the processor is Celeron 3.33 GHz. There are only 512 MB RAM, of which the graphic card gets 64. In a week from now there should be 2 GB, if I can afford it, but I am not sure what kind of RAM I should ask for (??). It should give prior to handling small tasks very fast - editing, copy&paste, and stuff like that - because I don't play any video games or other demanding kind of big programs.

[After-edit: There is only one RAM socketor how the English IT term may go.]

wreckedcarzz, Please post here whoever's computer you have succeeded in fixing. OR whoever has got their computer fixed, please (obviously, you will, but just to ensure) post as much. "Testimonials" give great value to the whole thing.

I just wanted to announce that for the first time ever .......-----...So please, give me a chance. It doesn't cost anything, and you watch the whole process on your monitor so you can direct what you want done. I have fixed computers for over 5+ years now in my house SOLO (I know the most in the family) so I am not saying things I cannot backup.-Brandon Seal

Curt,Yea, OpenOffice.org 2.2 is the only thing I use (and I have converted my dad over to it, also) for office related stuff. Check HERE: http://projects.open...org/native-lang.html and you will note that Danish is Level 2, meaning:"Level 2 means localization, support, and other work"As far as memory...http://www.crucial.com/ will let you know what kind of ram you have and can get, and offer purchasing options right there.You have a good system so I don't know why anything would create a problem, but maybe simply disabling the toolbar would fix everything; as you said it seemed to be a major part of the problem. Or you could check and see if there is an update for it- it may have been reported by other users.-Brandon

I'm surprised by Danish "again" being offered for OpenOffice. Maybe it was my Danish supplier who gave up OpenOffice, and not the other way around? Danish or not; I will have to overcome a certain part of myself (the $$$ part) if I should dump Office 2003, as I have paid big time money for the collection, and did so at a time when I had very little money (except for this day, of course). Anyway; Thanks for the tip!

About memory: Thanks for the PM, dk70. I should tell that the kind I have is "Single channel DDR2-533 SDRAM"

It turns out I must have misunderstood some info earlier given to me.As far as I understand the new info, I have TWO 'sockets' / banks / slots, or whatever, - places to place the RAM, and they are both so 'small' they can only carry 512 MB each.

- Isn't that what this test is telling:

?

To the best of my understanding this means that I can only have 2 x 512 MB. Would the advices I have been given here at DC be any different if you knew about this info?

To my surprise Crucial offered no updates for my graphic card either; there seems to be a problem concerning the slot for the grahics:

?I am almost certain it is not becuase the grahic card is all up to date! (?) But what then?!

Curt, the graphics card is irrelevant if you are just upgrading your ram - the scanner says something similar when I scan my computer. Basically, all the results are showing is that you can have another 512MB of RAM, but Crucial doesn't know exactly what model/carry any for your system. (I just used the Scan ID to visit the page for your system scan). It does have an area where you can fill in your computer info so they can ensure that they have the correct RAM available:"Our System Scanner was able to find some of the data we need to make a recommendation, but we need more information to ensure a compatible match."If you want to try that, you can go back to your system scan results here:http://www.crucial.c...tabid=&pagename=And no, around 1GB is a good solid system, so any advise would be pretty much the same (I only have 768MB myself).-Brandon

Virtual memory? No you can't buy virtual memory, BUT you can utilize the Hard Drive to create Virtual Memory...to do this:StartControl PanelPerformance and MaintenanceSystemAdvanced (tab)Performance Settings (1st button)Advanced (tab)Change (last button)Select either System Managed Size (if you don't know how much to have for virtual RAM) or set a Custom Size min/max (like 1024MB for an extra GB)Then hit Set (button) and OK/close everythingRestart

You got to be a bit careful with that motherboard of yours Curt. I think it might support both DDR2 and DDR1 ram, hence the 2, possible more slots. Dont expect online scanner to tell you. Go to Foxconn site and look up exact model then you see - or look in manual available online. Perhaps this url works http://www.foxconnch...aspx?ID=en-us0000069 but if not select Motherboards, socket 775 and at the bottom you see "VIA P4M800 Pro" 1 of those 5 models is yours. Different configurations depending on exact motherboard model. If you run that little cpu-z program it should give details on "Mainboard" tab - or just tear out side of computer and have a physical look - will say somewhere. Perhaps you also could stop a reboot at bios screen and see details.

I send you another PM in case you missed it. Dump 2gb and settle for 1gb. Perhaps add a little genuine video card, Nvidia 6200 or something. Total cost less than 1x2gb, which might even be hard to find. I doubt you need more than 1gb, well I know you dont or you would not have that offcie computer Right now 512mb is not enough - 1gb is.

The audio CD I was recording suddenly exploded into a thousand pieces!

Well, now I can leave it all to the IT mechanic, can't I.

---

I tried to enlarge the virtual memory to min 1024 and max 2048- but after restart the setting was back to the normal 670 MB

I clicked at Optimate For Speed, and evrything went ugly gray / grey, so I clicked Optimate For Best Looking, and everything went ugly blue!!Arghh!! WHERE do I click to get back the silvern look?? Please!

Ohh, what a day. I'll bet tomorrow is Monday..

- and this elegy was my post number 500; somehow I don't feel like celebrating